It Is A Beautiful Tree, From Forty To Fifty Feet High
When Full Grown, With Shining Foliage, Somewhat Resembling That Of The
Bay, And Its Fruit Looks Like A Very Large Nectarine.
One fully ripe
was gathered for me.
It had opened, and revealed the nutmeg with its
dark brown shell showing through its crimson reticulated envelope of
mace, the whole lying in a bed of pure white, a beautiful object.
Each house in the kampong seemed to have all its inmates at home doing
nothing but chewing betel-nut. In their home deshabilles the men wear
only the sarong, and a handkerchief knotted round their heads, and I
think that the women also dispense with an upper garment, for I noticed
at the approach of two strange men they invariably huddled another
sarong over their shoulders, heads, and faces, holding it so as to
conceal all but their eyes. The young children, as usual, were only
clothed in silver ornaments. This neglige dress in the privacy of their
homes is merely a matter of custom and climate, for these people are no
more savages than we are. These glimpses of a native tropic life,
entirely uninfluenced by European civilization, are most interesting.
In these kampongs the people have music, singing, story-telling,
games, and religious ceremonies, perhaps the most important of all. I
have not heard that the Perak Malays differ in their religious
observances from the other Malays of the Peninsula. It seems that
before "a parish" can be formed there must be forty-four houses. The
kampong may then have a properly constituted mosque in which every
Friday the religious officer recites an oration in praise of God, the
Prophet, and his vicegerents, from the steps of a rostrum. The same
person performs the marriage ceremony. Another official performs
sacrificial duties, and recites the service for the dead after the
corpse has been lowered into the grave. There is an inferior official
of the mosque who keeps it clean, and reports to the Imaum absentees
from public worship, goes round the villages to give notice of public
prayer, assists at burials, and beats the great drum of the mosque. The
Imaum appears to be the highest functionary, and performs what are
regarded as the most sacred rites of Islamism. There are regular fees
paid to these persons for their services, and at sacrifices they
receive part of the victim. I was afraid of going into any of the
mosques. They are all conical buildings of wood and attap raised on
wooden pillars, and are usually on small knolls a little way from the
kampongs. They have no minarets, but the larger ones have a separate
shed in which the drum or gong used for the call to prayer is kept.
Buffaloes are sacrificed on religious occasions, and at the births,
circumcisions, marriages, and shaving of the heads of the children of
wealthy people. The buffalo sacrificed for religious purposes must be
always without blemish. Its bones must not be broken after death,
neither must its horns be used for common purposes. It is slain near
the mosque with solemn sacrificial ceremonies, and one-half is usually
cooked and eaten on the spot by the "parishioners."
While I am on the subject of religious observances, I must tell you
that I saw a Moslem funeral to-day from a respectful distance. The
graves are decently placed together usually, though some of the pious
rich have large isolated burial places. The grave is dug by rule - i.e.,
the digger continues his work till his ear and the surface are on a
level. It is shaped like ours, with one important exception, that a
chamber two feet high for the reception of the body is dug in the side.
The corpse, that of a man I believe, covered with a cloth and dressed
in cotton clothing, was carried on a bier formed of two planks, with
the male relations following. On reaching the grave the Imaum read a
service in a monotonous tone, and then the body was lowered till it
reached the level of the side chamber, in which it was placed, and
inclosed with the planks on which it had been carried. Some leaves and
flowers were then thrown in, and the grave was filled up, after which
some water was sprinkled upon it, and a man, not the Imaum, sitting
upon it, recited what the Singhalese said was a sort of confession of
faith, turning toward Mecca. The relatives bowed in the same direction
and then left the place, but on stated days afterward offerings of
spices and flowers are made. It was reverential and decorous, perhaps
even more so than the Buddhist funerals which I saw in Japan, but the
tombs are not so carefully tended, and look more melancholy. The same
dumpy, pawn-shaped pillars are placed at the head and feet of the
raised mounds of earth which cover the graves, as in Malacca. It is
believed that when the mourners have retired seven paces from the grave
two angels enter upon inquisitorial functions. When death is seen to be
approaching, the dying person is directed to repeat a short form of
confession of his faith in the unity of God; and if he is unable, it is
recited for him. The offices of washing and shrouding the dead are
religious ceremonies, and are performed by one of the officials of the
mosque. The influence of the great Prophet of Arabia is wonderfully
enduring.
This letter, which began among sun-birds and butterflies, has got into
a dismal groove, out of which I must rescue it, but it is difficult to
give any consecutive account of anything when the fascinating Eblis
murmurs ouf! ouf! sits on my writing book, takes my pen out of my hand,
makes these scrawls which I fear will make my writing illegible, and
claims constant attention.
The Royal Elephant is a noble animal. His docility is perfect. He
climbed up and down places so steep that a good horse would have
bungled at them, pulled down trees when he was told to do it, held
others which were slanting dangerously across the track high above our
heads till we had safely passed under them, lifted fallen trees out of
his way, or took huge steps over them, and slid down a steep bank into
the Perak with great dexterity.
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